Daily PIB Analysis For UPSC/IAS | 26th March 19 | Download PDF

Ministry of Defence

• INS Kadmatt at Langkawi, Malaysia to Participate in LIMA-19
• Indian Navy’s frontline ASW corvette, INS Kadmatt arrived at Langkawi, Malaysia on a seven days official visit on Monday 25 Mar 19.
• The ship is scheduled to participate in the 15th edition of Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition, LIMA-19 during the visit. Vice Admiral Karambir Singh, PVSM, AVSM, ADC, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command would also be attending various engagements as part of LIMA 19 as head of Indian Navy Delegation
• The ship would be participating in numerous activities planned as part of LIMA 19 during the seven days at Langkawi, including the International Fleet Review (IFR) by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, maritime and air demonstration, Sea Exercises with 29 other participating navies, cultural exchange programmes, cross visits to ships, sporting events. Numerous seminars and interactions are also planned on the side lines of the main event.
• INS Kadmatt (P 29) is an indigenous stealth anti-submarine warfare corvette and was commissioned into the Indian Navy in January 2016. The ship is fitted with state of the art weapons, sensors and machinery and is also designed to embark the Seaking anti-submarine helicopter.
• Malaysia and India are maritime neighbours and the two navies continue to interact closely on issues related to training and exchange best practices during visits by ships from both sides. As part of such friendly engagements, Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) Ship KD Jebat, a frigate underwent the Operational Sea Training by Flag Officer Sea Training FOST at Kochi in October 2018 and RMN KD Lekir had participated in the IFR held off Visakhapatnam in February 2016.

Ministry of Human Resource Development

• No directive to restrict choice of subjects for research;
• Government believes in the principle of freedom in research
• Posted On: 25 MAR 2019 5:33PM by PIB Delhi
• The Ministry of Human Resource Development has not issued any directive to restrict choice of subjects for research, as has been reported in a section of media since the Government believes in the principle of freedom in research.
• Last year, there was a meeting of Vice Chancellors of 11 Central Universities, which were lacking in research. In the said meeting they presented a road map to improve research and also discussed the issue of more research on issues relating to national priorities. The minutes of the meeting were recorded.
• The Government has given impetus to improve and expand research facilities. The Government has provided

1. Rs 480 crore for Social Science Research Project under Impactful Policy Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS);
2. Rs 225 Crore for research in basic sciences; Rs 1000 crore under Impacting Research, Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) for technology related research;
3. Rs 450 crore under STRIDE for research in Humanities; and
4. Rs 480 crore under Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) for joint research with foreign universities in any discipline.

Ministry of Defence

• Exercise Al Nagah – III 2019 Validation and Closing Ceremony
• The third edition of joint military training exercise between Indian Army and Royal Oman Army, Exercise AL NAGAH 2019 concluded at Jabel AI Akhdar training camp, Oman on 25 March 2019.
• Closing ceremony witnessed final validation by observer delegation group of both the nations. Indian side was represented by HE Mr Munu Mahawar, Indian Ambassador to Oman and Major General A K Samantara. Royal Oman Army was represented by Major General Matar Bin Salim Bin Rashid Al Balushi and many senior officials. Contingent commanders of both the contingent briefed the delegation on the progress of the exercise.
• The two-week long exercise had commenced on 12 March 2019. 60 Soldiers of Indian Army took part in the exercise along with similar strength of pers from Royal Army of Oman.
• Both sides jointly planned and executed a series of well-developed tactical operations based on scenarios that are likely to be encountered in semi-urban and mountainous terrain.
• Commanders at various levels from both sides were exercised to work in close coordination to receive and collate information, jointly plan operations and issue suitable order to respective components. Subject experts from both the contingents also held in-depth discussions on various facets of counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations.
• Exercise AL NAGAH will go a long way in further cementing relationship between the nations and will act as a catalyst in bringing synergy and cooperation while undertaking such operations under the United Nations mandate.

Ministry of Defence

• Induction of Chinook Helicopters in Indian Air Force
• On 25 March 2019, the IAF formally inducted the CH 47 F(I)- Chinook heavy lift helicopters into its inventory at Air Force Station Chandigarh.
• Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa PVSM AVSM YSM VM ADC, Chief of the Air Staff was the Chief guest and the event was attended by various dignitaries.
  IAF had signed a contract with M/s Boeing Ltd in September 2015 for 15 Chinook helicopters.
• The first batch of four helicopters has been delivered on schedule and the last batch is to be delivered by March next year.
• These helicopters will be deployed in the Northern and Eastern regions of India.
• The addition of heavy-lift CH 47 F(I) helicopter is a significant step towards modernisation of Indian Air Force’s helicopter fleet.
• The helicopter has been customized to suit IAF’s future requirements and capability roadmap. The helicopter has a fully integrated digital cockpit management system, advanced cargo handling capabilities and electronic warfare suite that complement the aircraft’s performance.
• The helicopter is capable of airlifting diverse military and non military loads into remote locations

Ministry of Defence

• Admiral Sunil Lanba commissions Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Training Facility – ABHEDYA, at INS Shivaji, Lonavala
• Admiral Sunil Lanba, PVSM AVSM ADC, Chief of the Naval Staff commissioned a state of the art “Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Training Facility – ABHEDYA“, at INS Shivaji, Lonavla today. The ceremony was attended by a host of dignitaries including VAdm AK Chawla, FOC-in-C Southern Naval Command, VAdm GS Pabby, Chief of Materiel &Cmde BB Nagpal CMD, GSL.
• M/s. GSL had signed the contract with Indian Navy for construction of NBCTF on 31 Mar 2016. In line with its tradition of delivering projects ahead of schedule, GSL has handed over the facility to Indian Navy on 28 Sep 2018, well ahead of schedule.
• Cmde BB Nagpal CMD GSL stated “The timely completion of this Project is a reflection of the superior technical design and execution abilities of the Indian Navy and Goa Shipyard Limited. This unique facility will assist Indian Navy in providing realistic simulation of Nuclear, Chemical & Biological warfare to its personnel during their NBC damage control training, which till now was limited to theoretical training largely.”
• The steel structure of the simulator represents the relevant NBC compartment of the ship such as upper decks, citadels, cleansing stations, DCHQ, etc. The upper deck compartment is equipped with live agents along with NBC equipment such as SIRS, SICADS and other NBC detection and monitoring equipment. The trainees will have to detect, monitor, survey and decontaminate the areas using actual NBC equipment, providing real time NBC scenarios.

Department of Space

• Young Scientist Programme (Yuvika) – Online Registration
• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched a special programme for School Children called “Young Scientist Programme” “YUva VIgyani KAryakram” (युि वका) from this year.
• The Program is primarily aimed at imparting basic knowledge on Space Technology, Space Science and Space Applications to the younger ones with the intent of arousing their interest in the emerging areas of Space activities. ISRO has chalked out this programme to “Catch them young”. The residential training programme will be of around two weeks duration during summer holidays and it is proposed to select 3 students each from each State/ Union Territory to participate in this programme covering state, CBSE, and ICSE syllabus.
• Those who have just finished 9th standard (in the academic year 2018-19) and waiting to join 10th standard (or those who have started 10th Std just now) will be eligible for the programme. The selection will be based on the 8th Std marks.
• A few seats are left for the programme from various states. The interested students can register online from 25th March 2019 (1800 hrs) to 03rd April 2019 (1800 hrs). The selection is based on the academic performance and extracurricular activities. Students belonging to the rural area have been given special weightage in the selection criteria.
• The list of the provisionally selected candidates from each state will be announced on 06th April 2019. The provisionally selected candidates will be requested to send the supporting documents through E-mail to ISRO.
• This Email ID will be intimated to selected candidates. After verifying the relevant certificates the final list will be published on 13th April 2019. The progamme is planned at 4 centres of ISRO during the second half of May 2019

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